Planted in a slightly raised bed with very good drainage, along with other Japanese Holly variants. Established well, lovely shrub, and ...Read Moreafter 3 years flourishing and growing...Suddenly did not make it through this rather harsh winter Northern Ohio 2013-2014 and must be removed. Lost the columnar Sky Pencil Ilex Crenata forms of the Japanese Holly as well, although they had flourished too. Heartbreaking! Whole bed must be dug, brown guys tossed, and bed redesigned. Costly and a waste of time and effort with these, sadly!! I also had a young "nursery" of the Sky Pencils in another location, again, growing beautifully for 3 full years and exceedingly protected from wind and snow. Same thorough damages, so I believe the problem was due to not so much the temperatures, but the prolonged cold. They are lost as well!
We plant thousands of plants a year and from my experience, Soft Touch Holly can be very tempermental, especially in large group planting...Read Mores. Our latest was about 700 in which we lost 200. Mostly in group plantings around established Willow Oaks, however about a fourth were not. The beds we planted were ammended and slightly raised. I thought that maybe some were lost in the competition for water with the roots of the Willow Oaks, but not 30' from the trees. Now most of the time we used these they are spec'd on jobs and we can't change without real difficulties. If I have a choice on something similar it would be a Dwarf Yaupon Holly.
I used this plant frequently through a nursery I managed, it is a great size and form, but similar to helleri holly in water sensitivity....Read More Even established plants can develop root rot easil.y from overwatering. Dwarf yaupon, which is very similar in all respects in appearanced, is as much better landscape plant, nearly indestructible in the home landscape.
we planted 10 of these last fall, and the ones that did well (6 of them) really look great. 2 of them had severe dieback (almost half th...Read Moree plant) over the winter, and had to be replaced. 2 others had enough dieback to warrant possible replacement--rather than wait for the new growth to fill in the dead areas.
This shrub is popular in Memphis as a foundation and walkway border plant, and is used similarly to the Helleri cultivar. It stays low en...Read Moreough to not require heavy pruning under most windows and naturally has a nice, dense rounded shape. Mature specimens tend to be around 2.5 feet tall x 3 feet wide and take clipping well. Leaves are medium-dark green and glossy, with new spring growth a brighter lime green. It's supposed to have blackish berries on the female plants in the fall but I haven't noticed those yet on my plants. I pulled some overgrown azaleas out from our front beds and put in these hollies because this variety lives up to its name. The branches are flexible and the leaves are soft without barbs. It's very comfortable to weed around them in a flower bed. I've read on other sites that it's hardy to zones 5-6 but I can only vouch for the climate here, which is zone 7. I used to live in zone 5/6 St. Louis (300 miles up the Mississippi River) and never saw these shrubs there. I suspect this holly is more Southern than Midwestern.
Planted in a slightly raised bed with very good drainage, along with other Japanese Holly variants. Established well, lovely shrub, and ...Read More
I just planted about 20 of these around a flower bed and theyre holding up great. Absolutely no complaints.
We plant thousands of plants a year and from my experience, Soft Touch Holly can be very tempermental, especially in large group planting...Read More
I used this plant frequently through a nursery I managed, it is a great size and form, but similar to helleri holly in water sensitivity....Read More
we planted 10 of these last fall, and the ones that did well (6 of them) really look great. 2 of them had severe dieback (almost half th...Read More
This shrub is popular in Memphis as a foundation and walkway border plant, and is used similarly to the Helleri cultivar. It stays low en...Read More